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Hunminjeongeum
Hunminjeongeum
Gansong Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea
	The first page of the foreword written by King Sejong the Great
Also known as	The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People
Date	October 9, 1446 (government of Joeson)
Place of origin	Seoul, Joseon
Scribe(s)	Hall of Worthies
Author(s)	Sejong the Great; Hall of Worthies;
Script	Classical Chinese
Contents	Introduction of the native Korean writing system Hangul
Korean name
Hunminjeongeum	훈〮민져ᇰ〮ᅙᅳᆷ
Hanja	訓民正音
Revised Romanization	Hunminjeongeum
McCune–Reischauer	Hunminjŏngŭm
Korean name
Hangul	훈민정음
Hanja	訓民正音
Revised Romanization	Hunminjeongeum
McCune–Reischauer	Hunminjŏngŭm

Hunminjeongeum (Korean: 훈민정음; Hanja: 訓民正音; lit. The Correct/Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People) is a 15th-century manuscript that introduced the Korean script Hangul. The name of the manuscript was also the original name of the script.

King Sejong the Great commissioned the royal research institute Hall of Worthies to write the Hunminjeongeum to describe the writing system he had invented in 1443. The manuscript was then published in 1446.^[1]

Hunminjeongeum was intended to be a simpler alternative to the incumbent Chinese-based Hanja, in order to promote literacy among the general populace. It originally included 28 letters, but over time, four of those (ㆆ, ㆁ, ㅿ, ·) were abandoned,^[2] leading to the current 24 letters of Hangul.

Sejong the Great also commissioned the creation of a companion explanatory manuscript entitled Hunminjeongeum Haerye.^[1] In 1940, a copy of the Hunminjeongeum Haerye was discovered in Andong, Gyeongsang Province.^[1] An original copy of the document is currently located at the Gansong Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea.^[1] In 1962, Hunminjeongeum Haerye was designated a National Treasure in South Korea^[1] and was registered by UNESCO in the Memory of the World Programme in 1997.^[3]

History

Before Hangul, the Korean alphabet, was created, Koreans used Chinese characters to record their words.^[4] Since Chinese language and Korean language share few similarities, borrowing Chinese characters proved to be inefficient to reflect the spoken language.^[4] In addition, at the time when Sejong the Great was inventing Hangul the Ming dynasty had just come to power in China, which changed the pronunciation of Chinese characters, making it harder for Koreans to learn the new standard pronunciation to record their words.^[5] The illiteracy level also stayed high since reading and learning Chinese characters was restricted among the ordinary people. They were generally used in official documents by the ruling class.^[4]^[6] The ruling class took advantage of this and learning the Chinese characters became a symbol of power and privilege.^[4] In order to make written language more accessible for common people, Sejong the Great started creating Hangul secretly, since the ruling class would be appalled by the news.^[4]

Hangul was personally created by Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty, and revealed by him in 1443.^[7]^[8]^[1]^[9] Although it is widely assumed that Sejong the Great ordered the Hall of Worthies to invent Hangul, contemporary records such as the Veritable Records of King Sejong and Jeong Inji's preface to the Hunminjeongeum Haerye emphasize that he invented it himself.^[4] This is stated in Book 113 of The Annals of King Sejong (Sejongsillok) on the 9th month and the 28th year of reign of King Sejong and at the end of An Illustrated Explanation of Hunminjeongeum (Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon; Hunminjeongeum Haerye).^[5] Afterward, King Sejong wrote the preface to the Hunminjeongeum, explaining the origin and purpose of Hangul and providing brief examples and explanations, and then tasked the Hall of Worthies to write detailed examples and explanations.^[1] The head of the Hall of Worthies, Jeong In-ji, was responsible for compiling the Hunminjeongeum.^[9] The Hunminjeongeum was published and promulgated to the public in 1446.^[1] The writing system is referred to as Hangul today but was originally named as Hunminjeongeum by King Sejong. "Hunmin" and "Jeongeum" are respective words that each indicate "to teach the people" and "proper sounds."^[5] Together Hunminjeongeum means "correct sounds for the instruction of the people."^[10]

Versions and content

There are three versions of Hunminjeongeum.

Hunminjeongeum Yeui: Hanja version (Hunminjeongeum Sillok (세종실록; 世宗實錄; lit. The Sejong Chronicles) is classified as Hunminjeongeum Yeui.^[11])
Hunminjeongeum Haerye: An Illustrated Explanation of Hunminjeongeum (Hunminjeongeum Yeui + explanation: Haerye)^[12]
Hunminjeongeum Eonhae: Hangul version of Hunminjeongeum Yeui^[13]

Hunminjeongeum Yeui is written in Classical Chinese/Hanja and contains a preface, the alphabet letters, and brief descriptions of their corresponding sounds.^[12]

The first paragraph of the document reveals Sejong the Great's motivation for creating Hangul:

Classical Chinese/Hanja^[14]	國之語音異乎中國與文字不相流通故愚民有所欲言而終不得伸其情者多矣予爲此憫然新制二十八字欲使人人易習便於日用矣^[a]
Transliteration^{[clarification needed]}	Kwúyk ci ngě qum / Í hhwo tyung kwúyk / Yě mwun ccó pwúlq syang lyuw thwong / Kwó ngwu min wǔw swǒ ywók ngen / Zi cyung pwúlq túk sin kkuy ccyeng cyǎ ta ngǔy / Ye wúy chǒ mǐn zyen / Sin cyéy zí ssíp pálq ccó / Ywók sǒ zin zin í ssíp ppyen qe zílq ywóng zǐ.

The Classical Chinese (Hanja) of the Hunminjeongeum has been partly translated into Middle Korean. This translation is found together with Worinseokbo: an annotated Buddhist scripture and is called the Hunminjeongeum Eonhae.^[15]

Hanja + Hangul^[16]	國_귁〮之_징語_ᅌᅥᆼ〯音_ᅙᅳᆷ이〮異_잉〮乎_ᅘᅩᆼ中_듀ᇰ國_귁〮ᄒᆞ〮야〮與_영〯文_문字_ᄍᆞᆼ〮로〮不_부ᇙ〮相_샤ᇰ流_류ᇢ通_토ᇰᄒᆞᆯᄊᆡ〮故_공〮로〮愚_ᅌᅮᆼ民_민이〮有_우ᇢ〯所_송〯欲_욕〮言_ᅌᅥᆫᄒᆞ〮야도〮而_ᅀᅵᆼ終_쥬ᇰ不_부ᇙ〮得_득〮伸_신其_끵情_쪄ᇰ者_쟝〯ㅣ多_당矣_ᅌᅴᆼ〯라〮予_영ㅣ爲_윙〮此_ᄎᆞᆼ〯憫_민〯然_ᅀᅧᆫᄒᆞ〮야〮新_신制_졩〮二_ᅀᅵᆼ〮十_씹〮八_바ᇙ〮字_ᄍᆞᆼ〮ᄒᆞ〮노니〮欲_욕〮使_ᄉᆞᆼ〯人_ᅀᅵᆫ人_ᅀᅵᆫᄋᆞ〮로〮易_잉〮習_씹〮ᄒᆞ〮야〮便_뼌於_ᅙᅥᆼ日_ᅀᅵᇙ〮用_요ᇰ〮耳_ᅀᅵᆼ〯니라〮
Transliteration	Kwúyk ci ngě qum í / Í hhwo tyung kwúyk hó yá / Yě mwun ccó lwó pwúlq syang lyuw thwong hol ssóy / Kwó lwó ngwu min í wǔw swǒ ywók ngen hó ya dwó / Zi cyung pwúlq túk sin kkuy ccyeng cyǎ y ta ngǔy lá / Ye y wúy chǒ mǐn zyen hó yá / Sin cyéy zí ssíp pálq ccó hó nwo ní / Ywók sǒ zin zin ó lwó í ssíp hó yá ppyen qe zílq ywóng zǐ ni lá.
Middle Korean^[16]	나랏〮말〯ᄊᆞ미〮中_듀ᇰ國_귁〮에〮달아〮文_문字_ᄍᆞᆼ〮와〮로〮서르ᄉᆞᄆᆞᆺ디〮아니〮ᄒᆞᆯᄊᆡ〮 이〮런젼ᄎᆞ〮로〮어린〮百_ᄇᆡᆨ〮姓_셔ᇰ〮이〮니르고〮져〮호ᇙ〮배〮이셔〮도〮 ᄆᆞᄎᆞᆷ〮내〯제ᄠᅳ〮들〮시러〮펴디〮몯〯ᄒᆞᇙ노〮미〮하니〮라〮 내〮이〮ᄅᆞᆯ〮爲_윙〮ᄒᆞ〮야〮어〯엿비〮너겨〮 새〮로〮스〮믈〮여듧〮字_ᄍᆞᆼ〮ᄅᆞᆯ〮ᄆᆡᇰᄀᆞ〮노니〮 사〯ᄅᆞᆷ마〯다〮ᄒᆡ〯ᅇᅧ〮수〯ᄫᅵ〮니겨〮날〮로〮ᄡᅮ〮메〮便_뼌安_ᅙᅡᆫ킈〮ᄒᆞ고〮져〮ᄒᆞᇙᄯᆞᄅᆞ미〮니라〮
Transliteration	Na lás mǎl sso mí / Tyung kwúyk éy tal á / Mwun ccó wá lwó se lu so mos tí a ní hol ssóy / Í len cyen chó lwó e lín póyk syéng í ni lu kwó cyé hwólq páy i syé twó / Mo chóm nǎy cey ptú túl si lé phye tí mwǒt holq nwó mí ha ní lá / Náy í lól wúy hó yá ě yes pí ne kyé / Sáy lwó sú múl ye túlp ccó lól moyng kó nwo ní / Sǎ lom mǎ tá hǒi GGyé swǔ Wí ni kyé nál lwó pswú méy ppyen qan khúy ho kwó cyé holq sto lo mí ni lá.
Translation	Because the speech of this country is different from that of China, it [the spoken language] does not match the [Chinese] letters. Therefore, even if the ignorant want to communicate, many of them, in the end, cannot successfully express themselves. Saddened by this, I have [had] 28 letters newly made. It is my wish that all the people may easily learn these letters and that [they] be convenient for daily use.^{[citation needed]}